What do YOU Think?
by Jen Hunt
Summary: A short, in-progress story about what would happen if Henry developed a power of his own: reading minds.
1. Chapter 1

Henry Mills wolfed down his complimentary birthday grilled cheese at Granny's Diner. It was delicious, warm, gooey, and just the right amount of crispy: everything you could ever want in a grilled cheese. "Thanks, Granny," Henry said with a wide smile.

"Always, Henry," the gray-haired woman replied warmly, wiping down the table in front of him.

Just then, the bell to the tiny diner chimed merrily, and Emma came strolling in. She walked over to Henry and ruffled his hair softly. "Hey, Kid." She tossed a small box wrapped in bright red paper onto the table in front of him. "Happy fifteenth."

"Thanks, Mom!" Henry twisted in his chair to give his birthmother a tight hug. His mother returned the gesture. Surprisingly, despite her being the new Dark One, Emma didn't seem all that different. She was still witty, and strong, and protective, and even a little guarded; she was still all of the things that made Emma Emma.

She was still Emma, only with more magic.

"Swan," acknowledged Regina with a respectful nod from beside Henry.

"Hi, Regina," Emma greeted. She placed a hand on her son's shoulder. "So what do you want to do today, Henry?"

Henry looked up at Emma with his classic lopsided grin. "Hook promised to take me out on the Jolly Roger. Then I thought we could go bowling?"

Emma shrugged. "It's your day, Kid. Make it what you want it." With this, Emma turned and walked toward the restroom sign. "Back in a minute," she threw casually behind her.

"Miss Swan, what for most should take a minute, for you, takes thirty," Regina teased.

Emma stopped abruptly and spun back around, a goofy, almost embarrassed look on her face. "I _am_ allowed to enjoy my bathroom time, no?" she asked sarcastically, a mocking hand poised on her hip.

Regina shook her head at the blonde. "Not if you intend on passing for normal, Swan, absolutely not."

"Let Emma pee in peace, Mom," Henry interrupted their friendly banter.

"Thank you, Henry." Emma winked at him with her green eyes. She looked pointedly at Regina. "Now, if you'll excuse me…"

Once Emma had left to do her business, Henry turned to his other mom. "What do you think is in here?" he asked, fingering the fancy bow adorning his present from Emma.

"Won't know 'til you open it, unless you can see through that horrible red wrapping paper. Seriously, what is it about Emma and the color red?"

"I don't know, maybe it's her favorite color. Besides, I thought you liked red. You know, apples and all. Blood. Evil Queen. You know."

"Nope," responded Regina.

Henry rested his chin on the countertop and concentrated on the bright red packaging, on seeing what was underneath. He shook his head after a little while. "Nope, no X-ray vision. Unlike Emma, I have no superpowers." Henry smiled. "That's okay, though. I don't need any."

Emma emerged minutes later from the bathroom. "You ready, Kid?" she questioned. "Up and at 'em."

"Fly's down, Swan," Regina said, barely glancing up from her coffee.

"Oh." Emma smiled, actually embarrassed this time. She quickly pulled up the zipper on her pants. "All better. Let's get going."

"Idiot," Regina muttered, clearly referring to Emma.

"Mom!" Henry exclaimed, caught off guard. "Did you just call Emma an idiot?"

Regina appeared taken aback. "No, of course not!" she protested. "I didn't say anything!"

"But I, but I-" Henry stammered. He was _sure_ he had heard his mother say that. "Did you hear it, Emma?" he asked, hoping for her to say yes.

Emma shrugged and said she hadn't heard anything. "Your mom, surprisingly, has been pretty nice since she stopped the whole 'Evil Queen' act. I guess you're going crazy, Kid," Emma joked.

 **A/N: Thoughts? Should I continue on? The writing will definitely get better as I adjust to writing this kind of thing.**


	2. Chapter 2: The Not-so-Jolly Roger

The Jolly Roger ride was a bust. The moment Hook had steered the ship out of the docks and into the water, it began to pour down torrential rain.

"That's alright," Hook had said confidently, "a little rain never hurt anyone," but, as he said the words, lightning struck the water not a hundred yards from where the ship was.

"Cool!" Henry had said at this.

"Bloody hell!" was Hook's choice of words for the bolt, which, upon hearing, Emma moved faster than the lightning to cover Henry's ears. Henry had to remind her that he was fifteen and he at least knew the sailor's language, even if he didn't have a sailor's mouth.

"Sorry," Emma apologized, giving Henry her best "whoopsie" smile. "In my mind, you're still ten and this tall." She held one hand by her waist to show how short Henry had been.

"Nuh-uh, I was not that small!" Henry protested as Hook steered the ship back to port. Henry proudly moved Emma's hand up about six inches. "I was more like that tall."

Regina came over from the other side of the Jolly Roger and pushed Emma's hand back down to waist-height, ending the argument before it could begin. "No, Emma's right," she agreed. "You were closer to where she had you."

"I thought you were supposed to tell me how great I am on my birthday, not how _short_ I am," Henry grumbled.

It didn't take long to maneuver the Jolly Roger back to where it started, but the group was soaked through-and-through by the time they arrived.

"Sorry, lad, maybe some other day," Killian stated as his boat knocked into the harbor. "Today wasn't great."

Henry nodded in agreement at the pirate and dismounted the ship with his two moms. Emma gestured at her yellow Volkswagen bug, water dripping in large amounts off of her arm as she did so. "Want a ride home?" she offered, both to Henry and Regina. The two _did_ live in the same house, after all, being adoptive-mother and adopted-son.

"I would be forcing if you weren't offering, Swan," Regina said, climbing into the dry safety of the passenger's seat. "By the way, you _are_ the Dark One. Could you not have stopped the storm, or at least have kept us dry?"

Emma shrugged in response as she took the driver's side. "Life lesson for Henry, I guess," she said casually, but Henry saw her eyes widen like the thought had never even crossed her mind. "Wow, _I'm_ stupid," he heard her whisper.

"You're not stupid, Emma!" Henry promised the blonde, always the optimistic one. "You're just distracted, is all."

Emma looked back at him from the front seat, her eyebrows lifted in surprise. "Thanks, Kid, that's, uh, sweet… but nobody was saying I was stupid. You didn't need to defend my intelligence."

Regina wrung out her sopping hair right into Emma's car carpet, and Henry watched Emma cringe at the action. Emma really _did_ love that tiny, gaudy yellow car for some reason. "On the contrary, Miss Swan, knowing you can do and make almost anything you please in this world, I think it's _crucial_ that someonestand up for your intelligence. Now more than ever, seeing you don't think to use your magic when you need it."

Emma bit her lip thoughtfully. "That's right; I _can_ do anything I want," she agreed. After a long pause, the passenger-side door beside Regina flung itself open. "Thanks to your sarcasm, I've decided I want to make you walk home."

Regina began to both protest and apologize concurrently, but before the ex-Evil Queen could finish a sentence, she found herself outside of the warm car and in the frigid rain once more. Every drop that hit Regina's face felt like a tiny slap.

Without wasting a second, Emma waved her hand, and the car door closed. She waved her hand once more, and the car disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving a drenched Regina behind.

"Mom!" Henry exclaimed. He and Emma were now parked outside of the Mills' mansion, where it was also raining hard, sans Regina. "Why'd you do that? We just _left_ her there! Go back!"

Emma examined her fingernails nonchalantly and pretended to pick the dirt out from under them. "In a minute, Henry." She met his panicked, upset eyes in the rearview mirror, a devilish grin on her face. "I want to see something."

Henry counted all the way to sixty, skipping the Mississippis that normally followed the numbers to speed up the process (he counted Mississippilessly). When he arrived at the desired number, he leaned forward in his seat, stretching the seatbelt as far as it would go. He gripped the back of Emma's chair to prevent the seatbelt from pulling him back. Emma was still picking at her nails. "Can we go?" Henry asked with a sense of urgency.

Emma sighed rather dramatically. "Fine." With a flutter of Emma's hand, the two were instantly back in front of Regina. She stood shivering in the downpour, looking like a wet rat.

Regina sprinted to the yellow car the moment she noticed it had reappeared and threw open the door. "Are you crazy, Swan?!" she yelled. "It's freezing out here!"

Emma stared straight ahead, smiling but unresponsive. "What's so funny?" Regina asked the grinning blonde, the anger in her voice slowly growing.

"You are the Evil Queen, Regina. _You_ can do and make almost anything _you_ please," Emma responded triumphantly, mimicking Regina's speech from a few minutes ago. "You could've just _poofed_ yourself home."

Regina was speechless. Swan was right; she could've easily transported herself home. Defeated, she climbed silently into the waiting car.

Emma chose to drive all the way back to the Mills' place, clearly enjoying Regina's constant glaring and the fact that the brunette had once more forgotten that she could get herself home without so much as lifting a finger.

Henry could almost hear _I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you_ coming from Regina in a constant flow.

Once Emma had pulled up in front of Henry's home, she used her all-powerful magic to open the doors for the pair. As Regina walked away in the rain, Emma called after her, "You could have avoided the car ride and used magic to get home, you know!"

Emma sat back smugly in her seat. _Who's the idiot now?_ she thought.

Little did she know, Henry had heard that thought. And little did Henry know:

That was an _actual_ thought.

 **A/N: Thoughts? Did you enjoy this; should we keep it going? Leave me a comment telling me what you think :)**


End file.
